How To Dry Out A Cell Phone

Through circumstances totally out of your control, you now need to know how to dry out a cell phone. Maybe it happened at the beach, in a bathroom, or at a party. Maybe at all three. The trick is not to panic. Your phone is probably going to be fine in a few days, you just need to resuscitate it. Here are the steps to take when you need to dry out a cell phone:

Know Your Odds. Use common sense when you're predicting whether your phone can dry. It depends on the liquid. The more acidic, the less of a chance you have of drying out your cell phone. The amount of time the phone is in the liquid is also crucial to consider. Fresh water like rain, a cup of water, or a bathroom will probably keep your phone dysfunctional for a few days at most. Salt water can be fatal to cell phones, but there's still a chance it will come back to life when it dries. If you've dropped it in alcohol or something extremely acidic, be cautiously optimistic. Some parts of the phone may not work again.

Turn it Off. Don't risk getting electrocuted by the surgery you're about to perform on it.

Take Out the Battery. The battery is the part that will most often fizzle when your cell phone gets wet. Take this out as soon as you can and give it a few hearty shakes.

Take Out Other Accessories. Depending on your cell phone, you may have other removable parts. To dry out your cell phone, you have to disassemble it completely. You want to do this as quickly as possible, because you don't want the water to seep into every possible crevice.

Dry Everything and Keep it Separated. Give every part a gentle shake to get rid of the excess water. Then dab at it with a paper towel or tissue. Put all the parts somewhere where it's dry. The best place to do this would be a windowsill, since you get the added bonus of the sunlight to dry your cell phone.

Rotate. You want to make sure that every angle of your phone is dried. Just flip or adjust each piece every now and again.

Wait. Try to wait one night before checking on your phone. In the late afternoon, put it together and start charging it. Watch what happens. If it still doesn't show any signs of life, disassemble it again and wait another day or two. Cell phones can take a few days to dry.

If five days have passed, it probably mean it's impossible to dry out your cell phone. Usually, exposure to liquid will make cell phones dysfunctional on the surcace, but its internal functions are still fine. The surfaces just have to be dried. Now, if it was in the liquid for a long period of time or the liquid is particularly acidic, you may not be able to dry out your cell phone. Just try these steps and hope for the best. Good luck!